LOCH ARKAIG - THE WOODLAND TRUST - February 2024 - May 2024

Welcome to Loch Arkaig Ospreys season 8

Will Louis and Dorcha return to Nest 2? White check mark

Will someone take up residence in Nest 1? Question

Will any of Louis' chicks with Aila and Dorcha be sighted? Question

2024 season:

Louis arrived on Thursday 28th March at 15.18.38

Dorcha arrived on Saturday 30th March at 14.21.27

They reunited on Saturday 30th March at 16.13.37

First egg laid on Sunday 14th March at 11.13.48  Congratulations!!

Second egg laid on Wednesday 17th March at 05.55.52

Dorcha is injured in an eagle attack on Friday 19th April at 11.08

Third egg laid on Saturday 20th April at 02.26.08 

Welcome little bob - first chick hatches! Wednesday 22nd May at 06.16.45 

Welcome little bob - second chick hatches - it's twins! Wednesday 22nd May at 22.26.15

Welcome little bob - third chick hatches! Friday 24th at 16.36.10

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2023 season highlights:

Louis returned on Sunday 2nd April at 12.26.54

Dorcha returned on Sunday 9th April 08.09.46

They reunited on Monday 10th April at 12.33.03

First egg laid Friday 21st April at 05.44.19

A Golden Eagle touched down on Saturday 22nd April at 11.50.56

Second egg laid Monday 24th April at 07.03.30 

Third egg laid on Thursday 27th April at 07.35.39

Violent Owl strike sends an egg overboard 23rd May at 00.26.46

First chick hatches - and it's Egg3! 31st May at 13.08

Another Owl strike - Bob's unharmed. 6th June at 00.18.16 

It's a boy! The chick is ringed LY7 on 9th July around 10am

Fledge! LY7 finds his wings and flies 19th July at 15.05.11

Hello Ludo! The voting results are in and LY7 is named Ludo! 19th July

Dorcha leaves on her travels - last seen on 17th August at 06.30.34

Louis was last seen on 24th August at 15.50.34

Ludo LY7 was last seen* on 25th August at 10.03.28  (*on the nest)

Ludo sighted in France 24th September! Still there 8th October

Link to 2023 thread: 

https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/lochgartenospreys/f/loch-garten-ospreys/282446/loch-arkaig---the-woodland-trust---march-2023-to-february-2024

Brief history of the nests:

2016 Woodland Trust acquire the Loch Arkaig ancient Caledonian rainforest remnant and manage it in partnership with Arkaig Community Forest. An Osprey pair is seen.
2017 A nest cam is installed on a refurbished ancient Osprey nest. The old pair don't return but a young male Louis and a young female Aila take up residence and raise one male chick to fledging: Lachlan JH4.
2018 Louis & Aila return but a Pine Marten steals all their eggs.
2019 Louis & Aila return and raise two female chicks to fledging: Mallie JJ0 and Rannoch JJ2.
2020 Louis & Aila return and raise two male and one female chicks to fledging: Doddie JJ6; Vera JJ8 and Captain JJ7.
2021 Louis returns but sadly Aila doesn't. Louis takes up residence on a new nest with a new mate Dorcha and they raise two male chicks to fledging: Aspen LW3 and Alder LW4. This is designated Nest 2, no one takes up residence on Nest 1.
2022 Woodland Trust install a nest cam on Nest 2. Louis & Dorcha return and raise two female chicks to fledging: Willow LW5 and Sarafina LW6. Still no residents on Nest 1.
2023 Louis & Dorcha return, and raise one male chicks to fledging: Ludo LY7. No residents on Nest 1 but male Garry LV0 spent a lot of time flirting with Affric 152 despite her mate Prince still being around.
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Louis is a father of eleven, six with Aila (2017-2020), and five with Dorcha (2021-)
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In hatch order 2017 - 2023:
2017 Lachlan (JH4)
2019 Mallie (JJ0), Rannoch (JJ2)
2020 Doddie (JJ6), Vera (JJ8), Captain (JJ7)
2021 Aspen (LW3), Alder (LW4)
2022 Willow (LW5), Sarafina (LW6)
2023 Ludo (LY7)
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Highlights:
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2023 Nest Two highlights https://youtu.be/frFhrnS7Vvo
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2023 Nest One highlights https://youtu.be/qpxRv2OIsFQ
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All captures in whatever format are copyright Woodland Trust - with many thanks for allowing captures from their nest cam livestreams.
Osprey cams funded by People's Postcode Lottery
  • Nest One: Affric 152 is attacked by a strange Osprey, real-time with slo-mo repeat and a few stills of the attacking Osprey added at the end:

    10.03.01 Affric comes into view on the left, about to land, with an Osprey carrying fish partially seen right over her - in super slo-mo I can't see any rings on either leg so it's not One-ring

    10.03.02 Affric lands

    10.03.11 The Osprey with fish returns from the right, coming into view right over her still carrying the fish and swoops down divebombing her, making contact, then flies off immediately

    10.03.13 Affric leaves in a hurry, flying to the left. Moments later two Ospreys seen flying by the solar panels, the one chasing is very close to the other - that's Affric in front being chased.

    Could it be Prince doing an Axel? Axel AX6 has been attacking Asha quite viciously over at Loch Garten since she left him and took up with Brodie



  • 10.57.57 Fish arrives for Dorcha, first fish today, a big headless trout. She takes it and goes, leaving Louis to egg-sit 

  • The plot thickens! It's all getting really confusing!

    After the earlier attack on Affric at Nest One, seemingly by her mate, Prince, here she is back again, and fish calling.

    Skydancing is faintly heard, then Garry LV0 swoops in with a nice big trout at 16.56.58. She seizes it and departs while he stays and does nest work. 

    Not in this clip, he kept hopping on and off and bringing back vast quantities of nesting materials.

    So are they an item? Still thinking about it? Is Prince aware but not ready to give up, hence the attack? 

    The only thing certain is that we nest cam watchers will not miss any of the action while we try to puzzle it all out.

  • If only the one ring female would come back! 

  • Well Glider - if that was Prince attacking Affric, then maybe she will leave him for LV0. Let's face it, they would make a good pair and they both have Darvics so easy for us.

    He's from Loch Garry in 2020 and she's from Glen Affric in 2018, so a good pairing.

  • 14.37.27 Louis delivers fish number two, but Dorcha lets Louis take it away and she settles back down to incubating again 

    (I've been neglecting Nest Two, this happened earlier than the fish on Nest One)

     

  • Edited clip giving a flavour of Garry & Affric's afternoon on Nest One today:

    17.47.43 Garry LV0 flies in, arrives on the nest, does some nest prep, perches
    17.51.43 Affric 152 arrives clutching the fish she got from him earlier at 16.56.58 (https://youtu.be/zrElVMqpJlU), Garry mantles on his perch
    17.53.47 Garry flies over to Affric and mounts for a mating attempt but she raises her wing and throws him off
    17.46.47 He flies up and tries again but she nips him with her beak, he returns the favour, she nips him again, raises her wing, and throws him off
    17.57.48 Affric flies up to the centre perch clutching her fish while Garry is mantling on the left hand perch, she proceeds to tuck in to her fish
    18.00.26 Affric jumps down onto the nest, ignoring Garry who's still mantling. He hasn't achieved successful mating. Yet!



  • Daily summary Thursday 18th April 2024

    An interesting, intriguing, and at times infuriatingly complex series of events unfolded on Nest One today. In a nutshell - Affric 152 was attacked very aggressively by an unringed stranger who may or may not be Prince, Garry LV0 brought many nest materials, did a lot of nest prep, was harassed by Hoodies for his first fish, gave up his second fish to Affric, and attempted to mate with her. However, Affric rejected his many attempts, even going so far as to nip him, but did relent a little although none of his attempts were successful. It was much more routine on Nest Two - many incubation changes and two fish deliveries, taking the tally to forty three. Tonight’s forecast is for more light rain and light winds. 

    Night cam switchover (day cam): Nest One 21.31.02 (05.25.54); Nest Two 21.23.27 (05.30.58)

    Today’s videos:

    https://youtu.be/dU43UqtK7tI N1: cheeky Hoodies want Garry's fish 08.18.01

    https://youtu.be/kRPBQfqCCs0 Affric 152 is attacked by a strange Osprey 10.03.01 (slo-mo repeat plus stills)

     https://youtu.be/TtmtrXLz_Ac Fish number one, big headless trout 10.57.57 

    https://youtu.be/zrElVMqpJlU  N1: Fish for Affric from Garry LV0, big headless trout 16.56.58

    https://youtu.be/GXbgsaLiMvw Fish number two, but Dorcha lets Louis take it away again 14.37.27

    https://youtu.be/esrwp4Lbzvk Edited clip of Affric & Garry on Nest One 17.47.43 - 18.00.26

    Bonus action - Urge candidates in England’s 2024 local & mayoral elections to recognise the value of trees and woods where you live:

    https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/campaign-with-us/local-elections/

    Blast from the past, this day in previous years:

    https://youtu.be/WF3FAQOLy8s Female stranger visits lonely Louis 2021 (real time)

    https://youtu.be/WF3FAQOLy8s Female stranger visits lonely Louis 2021 (slo-mo)

    https://youtu.be/ijqYocF2QoE Louis does a flypast with fish 2022 (zoomed)

    https://youtu.be/kPl5V1ZiLUQ Coal Tit sings merrily on and off the nest 2023

    https://youtu.be/ikX-jxrt_kw Louis subdues a stubborn stick 2023

    https://youtu.be/QOxlUE3bGts Louis delivers supper at sunset 2023

  • Drama involving Dorcha - she has blood on her leg and side. Did it come from this distantly seen fracas with the eagle? No blood seen immediately after she returned, but quite a bit of blood seen a little later. Is the injury higher up and the blood took time to travel down her plumage? 

    Elaine noticed something at 11.08 - I've done a video, using her timings. First the whole thing in real-time, then the actual encounter in slo-mo and zoomed in. Best I could do, I couldn't zoom in any tighter without losing resolution.

    Well spotted Elaine! Take a bow..

    Reposting Elaine's comment:

    Scrolling back, I see some brief but exciting action in the distance.
    11:07:36 onwards raven calls heard, getting closer. Osprey alarm calls off camera.
    11:08:01 Raven appears below logo, flying right to left, followed by another.
    11:08:05 Large raptor ?golden eagle emerges from somewhere below centre perch, rising
    11:08:06 Osprey enters top of frame , left of centre
    11:08:07 Large raptor and osprey converge, raptor rolling on to its back, legs in the air, flipping over and flying on as if nothing has happened. Cannot say if contact between them.
    11:08:08 osprey flies to top of frame, dropping small object, and disappears above "Arkaig"
    At least I think that's what I saw! Would be interested to know what others think. The large raptor looked larger than an osprey, mainly dark with white patches on wings and tail.


  • Oh goodness, Geemeff, I do hope Dorcha is ok... DisappointedPray